Law Times

Page 6 March 2, 2015 • Law Times www.lawtimesnews.com COMMENT Bricks and bouquets ith lots of positive developments as well as some ques- tionable decisions in the legal world lately, it's a good time to toss a few bouquets to those who deserve some praise and bricks to those who are off the mark: A bouquet to the Ontario Superior Court for addressing the mo- tions backlog through the rebranded civil practice court. The chang- es have the potential to make a measurable difference. A brick to the federal government for stepping up efforts to re- voke the status of former refugees granted asylum who return to their home countries to visit. While there's merit in trying to boost the integrity of the refugee system, accepted refugees have put down roots in Canada and can potentially argue the situation in their home countries has changed. It's mean-spirited to make them go back. A bouquet to Justice Minister Peter MacKay for suggesting the government won't use the notwithstanding clause over the Supreme Court's assisted-suicide ruling. While there's debate over whether some of his colleagues agree with him, MacKay deserves credit for his measured response about taking time to consider what the gov- ernment will do. A brick to the trial judge in R. v. C.D.H. who created a fake pro- file on match.com during proceedings over an alleged sexual assault encounter involving two people who had met on the dating web site. While the judge had a feasible explanation for what he had done, his actions were an error in judgment and have now led to a new trial. A bouquet to Justice Susan Himel for her recent ruling that found subjecting high school students to mandatory breathalyzer tests in Post-election cloud hangs over Wynne as scandal returns here's no game dirtier than politics and yet it still shocks us when the soiled laundry gets a public airing. Such is the case at Queen's Park where both the Ontario Provincial Po- lice and the chief electoral officer believe there has been an apparent breach of the Elections Act. Last June, Liberal candidate Andrew Olivier came within 1,000 votes of beating the NDP's Joe Cimino in Sudbury, Ont. When Cimino mysteriously resigned five months later citing personal health and wellness issues, Premier Kathleen Wynne called a byelection but instead of backing Olivier, she appointed former local federal NDP MP Glenn Thibeault after he quit his party to cross over to the Liberals. He subsequently won the seat in the Feb. 5 vote while Olivier, who ran as an in- dependent, was a distant third. That would have been it. But Olivier is a quadriplegic and records his calls because he can't take notes. But for his recordings of conversations with party officials, his disenchantment would have been a case of a sore loser whining versus the word of highly placed Liberals. The transcripts of those conversa- tions hit the Internet and the issue blew up from there. More recently, chief elec- toral officer Greg Essensa sent his report to the attorney gen- eral for further action since his office has no investigative or prosecutorial mandate. It's all tawdry, but there's some smoke here at least. The specific Ontario Elec- tions Act bribery provision at question is s. 96.1. It deals with efforts to "give, procure or promise or agree to procure an office or employment to induce a per- son to become a candidate, refrain from becoming a candidate or withdraw his or her candidacy." The penalty is a fine of up to $25,000 and up to two years in jail. Yet Wynne shrugs it all off. Why? In politics, this is business as usual. Politi- cians can buy loyalty, compliance, and sometimes silence through appointments to boards, agencies, and commissions. The conversations between Olivier and the premier's deputy chief of staff, Pat Sorbara, and Sudbury Liberal operative Gerry Lougheed sure sound like a prelude to making some sort of a deal. "I come to you, on behalf of the premier, and on behalf of, yes, Thibeault, more indirectly, to ask you if you would consider stepping down," said Lougheed in breaking the news to Olivier. "Even more than that, An- drew, nominating him . . . the premier wants to talk to you. They would like to present to you options in terms of ap- pointments, jobs, whatever, that you and her and Pat Sor- bara could talk about it." Sorbara later calls, noting Olivier had chatted with the premier the previous night, and asks for a wish list: "I said to her [Wynne], I don't know what else he might be interested in, you know, if you are specifically in- terested in stuff like the accessibility ad- vocacy or disability advocacy like there is stuff being formed in committees and stuff that we can give you a voice on if, for example, if you wanted to be an ex- ecutive of the Ontario Liberal Party, and that would give you a voice at the party level, and at a different level. If there were other things that you're particularly in- terested in that are within her realm to make you part of, then she is more than prepared to do that." Later, she again opens the door for Olivier: "We should have the broader dis- cussion about what is it that you'd be most interested in doing, and then decide what shape that could take . . . whether it's a full- time or a part-time job in a constit office, whether it is appointments, supports or commissions, whether it is also going on the exec. There are lots of . . . but I would just, we would just need to better under- stand what is it that you most want to do." Is this an inducement or just politics as usual? Given the rabbits are guarding the carrot patch here, it would be a shock if authorities actually lay charges. It will come down to the fact Wynne was going to bypass Olivier in any event and the ongoing discussion was merely seeking to find what would be reasonable com- pensation and courtesy but wasn't an inducement because his candidacy was moot at that point. Either way, it provides fodder for the opposition and an insight to what a dirty game politics really is. LT uIan Harvey has been a journalist for more than 35 years writing about a di- verse range of issues including legal and political affairs. His e-mail address is ianharvey@rogers.com. ©2015 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or stored in a retrieval system without written per- mission. The opinions expressed in articles are not necessarily those of the publisher. Information presented is compiled from sources believed to be accurate, however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. Law Times disclaims any warranty as to the accuracy, com- pleteness or currency of the contents of this pub- lication and disclaims all liability in respect of the results of any action taken or not taken in reliance upon information in this publication. Publications Mail Agreement Number 40762529 • ISSN 0847-5083 Law Times is published 40 times a year by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. 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It's an unnecessary provoca- tion towards the Muslim community and the government would do better to heed a recent court ruling on the issue. A bouquet to former Ontario Human Rights Commission chief commissioner Barbara Hall for her service in the role. She effectively led the com- mission during a significant transition to dealing with systemic issues rather than individual cases. — Glenn Kauth T Queen's Park Ian Harvey W

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